UNUSUAL ORIENTATION TUNING CURVES OF LGND RELAY CELLS IN THE CAT I. A STUDY ON NORMAL CATS
猫外膝体神经元非寻常的方位调谐特性——Ⅰ、在正常猫的研究

Single unit responses to drifting sinusoidal gratings were recorded with microcapillary electrodes from LGNd in normal cats. Orientation sensitivity of 400 cells was studied quantitatively.It is found that some LGNd relay cells (about 10%) in normal cats showed unusual orientation tuning curves, including "butterfly-shaped", bimodal orientation tuning curves, and those of changing preferred orientation with spatial frequency. The cells showing unusual orientation tuning properties also exhibited unusual spatial frequency tuning. These unusual orientation tuning and spatial frequency tuning properties are not easily explained by a simple center-surround difference of Gaussian model, but can be explained by a complex Gaussian Subunits model.The models for explaining orientation sensitive properties of cells with unusual orientation tuning curves were discussed.